Bluetongue is becoming quite a problem for the livestock sector. At the beginning of this month it was announced that sheep had become infected with the virus. Almost as many companies are now struggling with infections as during the entire previous wave of infections between 2006 and 2008. Livestock farmers seem to be erring on the side of caution and taking their cattle to slaughter a little faster.
The fact that the virus spreads so quickly is due to the way in which animals become infected. Bluetongue is transmitted by midges (a type of mosquito). However, the sickest ones cannot be transmitted from animal to animal. On the one hand, culls are not necessary, but on the other hand, it is not easy to protect yourself against the disease. Bluetongue is originally an African disease, but in 2006 the virus also broke out in Europe. That year, the disease broke out among 456 companies in the Netherlands. It took two years for the disease to completely disappear from the Netherlands. At that time, a vaccine was developed against the then variant (BTV-8).
It appears that the bluetongue virus is advancing faster this time than seventeen years ago. To date, infections have been reported at an early stage of the spread among more than 400 livestock farmers in six provinces, LTO reports. Initially, sheep were mainly affected by the virus, but according to LTO, the number of infections among cattle is rapidly increasing. A quick solution is still far from in sight. This time there is a different variant of the virus (type 3). No vaccine has yet been approved in the Netherlands for this variant.
Additional carnage
According to market insiders, cattle farmers are sending their cows to slaughter a little earlier, partly because of bluetongue. Until the summer, about 10.000 cattle were slaughtered every week. The slaughter figure was lower the week before the first infections. That week, 9.000 cattle were slaughtered. In the week of the first report (week 36), the slaughter figure increased to around 11.000 and the following week the slaughter figure increased further.
In itself, such an increase in slaughter figures is not remarkable. The slaughter figure is reasonably in line with a usual seasonal pattern. Due to lower milk productivity, more cattle are often sent to slaughter in the autumn. The slaughter figures of 36 and week 37 are reasonably in line with the five-year average. The slaughter figures therefore show that there is not necessarily extra supply pressure due to bluetongue, although that is the case according to insiders.
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